Megarob Project: Development of flexible, sustainable and automated platform for high accuracy manufacturing operations in medium and large complex components using spherical robot and laser tracker on overhead crane

The future manufacturing with cutting edge industrial robotics, is tested in Aitiip

It is unique in the world due to its accuracy and its work with large sizes.

It will be able to work on a 20x6x5m cell and its position will be monitored by Leica Absolute Tracker and corrected 1,000 times per second.

It is the result of European research project, “MEGAROB” over 4M euro budget and led by AITIIP.

The AITIIP Technology Centre sited in Zaragoza will become the scene of a factory of the future with the installation of a manufacturing system based on cutting edge industrial robotics, ultra precise and unique in the world due to its characteristics.

The robot will be assembled on a crane through which it will move, covering a large workspace (20x6x5 meters). The operations will be controlled by a computer program, which will use a ranking algorithm programmed into the project environment, and will process the readings of a Leica AbsoluteLaser Tracker AT901 device at a rate of 1000 scans per second in Real-Time.

Manufacturing operations that can make this system are varied, such as drilling, milling, edging, polishingorsandingamong others. These operations are performed on large parts, more than 10meters, other specific characteristics of this platform.

Once built the platform and tuned the system, it will be proceed to the system validation in realindustrial parts: a composite material beam and a wind turbine blade.

All this development is the result of the European projectMEGAROB, led by AITIIPTechnology Centre, where take part other Spanish entities such as Grúas GH and Acciona and also European partners as Leica Geosystems (Switzerland) and CSEM (Switzerland), Teamnet (Romania) and Espace2001 (Luxembourg). In this project it has been invested more than 4Meuros andthree yearsof work.

The approximate installation phases are as follows:

Assembly of the structure and crane: June 16

Robot-assembly: June 20

Start-Up of the control system: July 9

Start-Up of the control software: July 26

Functional testing for set-up: all of July and August

Tests on parts inside project: September and October

It is expected to have a fully functional demonstrator for the end of the project: 30 October.

Installation diagram on a layout

MEGAROB is an European Project supported within the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Development.